What’s Memorial Day weekend without beach traffic, sunburns in all shades of red and a festival featuring 50 food trucks?
The annual Jersey Shore Food Truck Festival took place over the three-day weekend at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, with vendors from all over New Jersey and even as far as New York and Philadelphia.
Since its debut in 2012, the festival has attracted both locals and visitors from out of state, according to an Asbury Park Press article about the event.
With rows and rows of trucks offering a variety of enticing foods, such as potato sandwiches, lobster rolls and Belgian waffles, it’s a good idea to go with an empty stomach and a plan of attack. It can be difficult to make decisions when you simply want to try everything.
Despite the heat that Saturday when my family and I went, I found myself standing in line for some piping hot pierogies at Pompier Pierogi Flats, thanks to rave reviews from juniors Cate Escueta and Julia Pardee, who also attended the festival that day. The potato and cheese-filled dumplings did not disappoint, perfectly complemented with lightly sauteed onions, scallions and sour cream.
My next stop was at El Lechon de Negron, a Puerto Rican truck that also has a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Union, N.J. I ordered their mofongo, a traditional dish of fried and smashed plantains, topped with a tangy tomato-sofrito sauce and a side of pulled pork.
The portion was big enough to share, and within minutes we had scarfed down every last bit of pork and plantain in that red and white paper tray.
A chimney cake from the Chimney Cake Factory served as our dessert, and it was an all-around favorite. The Hungarian pastry is made from a yeast dough that’s wrapped around a cylinder, covered in sugar then baked over a fire. The result is a chewy, chimney-shaped bread with a satisfying crunch from the caramelized outer layer and a hollow, doughy center, which we ate coil by coil.
I highly recommend the food truck festival to all you food-lovers out there, and there is no doubt in my mind that I will be back next year.